Strange Childhood Memories
by Wolf-Pearl378
Summary: Ben received news from his sister, Saoirse about a new person moving into her neighborhood. The new neighbor in question is Anne-Marie, a 73 year old who decided to use her retirement money to go to Ireland and to spend her golden years there. The three began to talk about memories from their childhood, only to discover that those memories are quite odd and contrary to normal.
1. Chapter 1: Neighborly News

Ben had helped his five year old daughter, Heidi get ready for a school for junior infants. This day in particular however, she was in absolutely no mood to go. "Come on Heidi, it's just day that will last a few hours," Ben said to her, "for Pete's sake, you only have like three and half hours of school a day.". Heidi, who is quite stubborn for her age, still refused to listen to her father. "Heidi. Stop it." Ben said again, but she continued her stubbornness. After a while, Ben got fed up with her antics, scooped her up, and took her in his car while she screamed and cried. He managed to cheer her up by giving his childhood book, Mr. Tickle to her. Something to entertain her during the car ride, and it worked until she read it eight times and got bored with it. Heidi spoke out, "Daddy.". Ben asked her what's up, and she asked, "Where are the police? Why did they not try to throw Mr. Tickle to jail?". Ben started to laugh and once he made it to the school's parking lot, he collected himself and answered, "Firstly, he has a blue hat, so guess that means Mr. Tickle is a police officer. Secondly, he has very long arms and he can escape his jail cell with those arms of his.". It didn't make sense for Heidi, but went along with what her dear old dad had told her.

Now, Ben drove back to his flat, got in to feed his dog, Cú the second, who was named after his first dog. Once he was fed, Ben got on his computer to open up Microsoft Word to write a new story. Unfortunately for Ben, he began to have writing block while staring at the blank document. He got a notebook to add an idea or two, but there was nothing, he gave up and went surfing on some blog sites, with his own blog being one of them. Minutes flew by and he heard ringing, it was from the landline phone. He got up from his desk, and to the living room to pick it up. "Hello?" a woman's voice asked, it was his little sister, Saoirse. The two had a nice, decent conversation, mainly to ask how they're doing and stuff. Saoirse felt bad to hear that he is having difficulty coming up with new story ideas. It also turns that she too has news of her own, someone is moving into her neighborhood and asked if he wants to the meet the new neighbor with her. "Yeah I'll love to. It was nice talking to you." said Ben as he hung up. He looked at the clock and found that it's already the end of the school day.

He drove to the school to pick up Heidi, she ran towards him and he picked her up. When he explained where they're going, Heidi was very excited to see her aunt. Both Heidi and Saoirse have always been very fond of each other. Even in many occasions, Saoirse would ask to babysit Heidi whenever Ben's looking for one to look after his daughter. With determination, Ben is willing to drive for almost an hour to see his sister for the first time in months.


	2. Chapter 2: Meeting the New Neighbor

An hour has passed, and Ben finally made it to Saoirse's house. Heidi rushed to give her aunt a hug. "Oh hello Heidi!" Saoirse chirped, and gave Heidi a hug and a cheek pinch. She spotted her older brother, and gave him a hug too. Ben asked his sister, "So, who's this new neighbor you were talking about?". Saoirse replied, "I haven't spoken to her yet but I know she's across the street from me and her house is white.". Then, Saoirse guided her brother and niece to the house she described, approached the door, and knocked on it. "Hello? Who's there?" asked the voice of an older woman, Saoirse inquired the older woman if she recently moved into that house and she and her family wanted to meet her. The voice answered, "Yes, I just have moved into that house. Oh please come in, I want to say hello to some my neighbors.". Saoirse swung the door and went inside with her brother and his daughter behind her and closed the door behind her.

In the living room, it looked very neat and tidy with a very antique and vintage feel and look to it. There were two armchairs, a couch, and a coffee table between the three, another table near the wall with a TV on it. Sitting on one of the armchairs, is an old lady looking to be in her 70s gave a friendly look to her younger neighbor. "You must be my new neighbors! Please to have a seat while make all of you some tea!". Heidi politely declined tea but instead wanted apple juice, which the old lady was content with. Ben and Heidi sat on the couch while Saoirse sat on the other armchair and they waited for the old lady to make the tea and juice. Ben wanted to turn on the TV to keep themselves entertained but was scared of being rude. A few minutes later, the old lady came back with three cups of tea and glass full of apple juice on a tray. Saoirse asked the old lady if she wanted some help but the lady told her that she can do it. The tray is on the table and everyone grabbed their cups. "Umm..," the old lady said, "I'm Anne-Marie and who are all of you?". Saoirse introduced herself and then her brother and niece. Anne-Marie was shocked that Ben was actually her neighbor's brother and got very embarrassed, apologizing profusely and giggled sheepishly. Thankfully, all was forgiven and something to laugh about.

Then, it was a time to make a conversation. However, no one could think what to talk about until Heidi ran off and found a book called, "The Adventures of Charlie", which was written by Anne-Marie herself. "Heidi, does that belong to you?" Ben asked his daughter sternly, Heidi nodded her head "no" and got told to put it back. On the other hand, Anne-Marie stopped him and asked Heidi, "Where did you find that? May I see?". Heidi walked up to her and showed her the book. Anne-Marie gasped a joyful gasp and said, "Oh my God! It's the first children's book I've ever got published! Thank you for finding it!". Anne-Marie took the book from Heidi and said, "This book is about a dog named Charlie. He's a bad boy with a heart of gold. He goes on these adventures with his friend, Itchy and a little girl. Yes, there's a bad guy in this story and his name's Carface, and he has a friend named Killer.". Both Saoirse and Ben made looks of surprise, that book sounds very familiar to them, almost like they've read that book once or twice. Heidi asked Anne-Marie very sweetly, "Where did you get the idea for such a story?". The answer, "It came from childhood memories I had with a dog who was also named Charlie.". Which sparked something Ben and asked her, "Maybe we can talk about the childhood memories my sister and I shared together? The memories are from Halloween 1987.". Anne-Marie became interested in their memories. Saoirse shouted in relief, "Finally! Something I can talk about while introducing myself to a new neighbor!".


	3. Chapter 3: Sharing Memories

Anne-Marie opened up her first ever published book and looked at page one. How she, Ben, and Saoirse decided to share their memories is by taking turns. It's currently Anne-Marie's turn, then it would be Ben and Saoirse's turns to share. "Oh yeah, I remember how I met good ol' Charlie now," Anne-Marie said in a nostalgic tone, "It was in 1939, and I got captured by Carface and used me for betting in rat races due to my believe it or not, ability to speak to animals.". That reminded Saoirse of the night she found her selkie coat and swan with some seals and that was the memory she shared to Anne-Marie. She sounded rather confused, "Selkie coat? Sorry for sounding so uncultured but, is Selkie like some kind of clothing brand or store I need to know about?". Saoirse sighed, and Ben just shook his head and had to explain to Anne-Marie what a selkie is. She found it very interesting, and even compared them as the good versions of werewolves. Which made Ben facepalm but it gave him a chuckle.

Then, Anne-Marie began to describe her first experiences being with Charlie and his good ol' pal, Itchy. She remembered being inside a wore down car with them and seeing Itchy attempting to read Leo Tolstoy's _War and Peace_, with the book being upside down, which is currently very amusing. Eventually, they found an old church as a place to stay in. Sort of like a new home for her. Ben, almost forgetting that it was his and his sister's turn, he continued the Saoirse's selkie coat memory by recalling his own grandmother finding her on the shore, wearing said selkie coat, and he wondered where on Earth she found it. Heidi interrupted saying, "My aunt's an selkie?! I thought they were fairy tales creatures or something!". Ben had to remind Heidi not to interrupt someone when they're talking but told her that he too was surprised to find out that they were real. Regardless, it was Anne-Marie's time to share another memory, this time, she remembers Charlie and Itchy coming up with a plan to earn enough money to start their own casino. What she described made Ben and Saoirse question Charlie's intentions with sweet little Anne-Marie, and began to hate him despite Anne-Marie's numerous attempts of defending him. "Why would you let him just... exploit you like that?" Ben asked with loads of disgust in his voice.

Regardless, both Ben and Saoirse began to share more of their memories. Ben told the story of when his grandmother decided to have both him and his sister live her due to the mental problems their dad suffered from at that time, and thus a two hour drive to Dublin. Despite how boring Ben made it sound, Anne-Marie found it interesting. Out of the blue, Saoirse brought up that she decided to recreate the night she met the seals by going into the shower, wearing her grandmother's coat, which was absolutely nothing like the sealskin coat she wore at that night, but whatever, it worked. "Oh Saoirse, Saoirse, that was very naughty of you." Anne-Marie said as she was giggling. That too, was something to laugh at.

And now, Anne-Marie began to describe another memory she ever had, "Now, I have discovered Charlie's true intentions, I told them that I will leave him and his buddy if he keeps it up. So, what does he do? He brings in a mother and her numerous puppies. Bet he's doing it for the good guy points, I suppose,", Ben and Saoirse agreed with her on the "good guy points" part of the statement. Then, she brought up this hilarious gem, "now after that, he took me to another building and the floor fell apart. Resulting with us being trapped inside those cages by those weird voodoo mice. I could not comprehend what they were saying. They were speaking in this strange language completely foreign to me, and now we're being fed to their leader, who is a voodoo alligator, he tried to eat Charlie, but for some reason, that alligator was like, 'naaaaaah, screw it, you can sing, your life shall be spared!', and thus, he sang this song I think it went like...". She proceeded to attempt to sing "Let's Make Music Together", but was having difficulties remembering a majority of the lyrics because it has been sixty-seven years since she heard that song. Meanwhile, Ben was on the floor guffawing and Saoirse was wheezing with a bright, red face and tears were leaking out of her eyes. It was the funniest thing they have ever heard. "Excuse me, what now?! An alligator, dancing with a dog? Now I have heard everything!" Ben managed to say through his laughing. Unfortunately for his sister, she was laughing too hard to say even a word. The memories from those two would have to wait.

After a while, Ben and Saoirse got themselves together and began to recall meeting three fairies (or Daoine Sidhe as they're called in Ireland), and that was where Ben found that she's a Selkie (or half-Selkie). Stuff about a place called, "Tír na nÓg", and how since she's one, they'll finally go to that place as she sings the song of the sea. Then, the fairies got turned into stone statues because of some owls being the minions of a goddess named Macha, who did the same to her giant son, Mac Lir. Anne-Marie was very terrified of Macha when she first heard of her. "She… turned her own son and others into stone by taking away their emotions? Deary me, and I thought Charlie was a scumbag, aye-ye-ye-ye." she spoke, shaking her head. Ben and Saoirse both understood her fear of the owl goddess.

They continued on to describe their attempts of returning to their island home, but reunited with Cú the first in the process, they later found a well to which Saoirse jumps into impulsively.

To which, this prompted Anne-Marie to ask her if she got pneumonia from that, Saoirse nodded her head, "no", she sighed a relieved sigh to know that Saoirse didn't get sick. Now, it was Anne-Marie's turn to share one of her final memories of being with Charlie, she brought up that when Charlie got back to the church, Itchy was attacked by Carface and his goons, and he called him out for abandoning him, and that was when Ben was right about Charlie exploiting her, as she heard Charlie talking about dumping her into an orphanage whenever he's done with her. "I felt so betrayed, it was like he never actually cared for or gave me a darn about me. I told him that he was a bad dog while I bursted into tears and ran away from him." Anne-Marie said sounding like she's about to cry.

Upon hearing that, Saoirse looked so furious and much to everyone's shock and horror, Saoirse shrieked in the top of her lungs, "I want him DEAD. You hear me, Anne-Marie?! Dead I tell you, I want that jerk to DIE.". She started to breathe heavily, her fists were shaking, her brother had to calm her down by taking her to another room in the house to talk things out. Minutes later, they came back to the living room. Heidi rushed to her beloved aunt to see if she's okay, that was what finally got Saoirse to get back into her senses. As for Anne-Marie, she never showed a reaction. "You aren't wrong about Charlie being dead, Saoirse." she spoke calmly, Saoirse made a shocked look, she didn't realize that was at all the case. Ben proceeded to tell how he discovered a man with a very, very long beard, almost akin to Rapunzel in a way. He got his help regarding the whereabouts of his sister, who got kidnapped by Macha's owls, and discovered what actually at the night his mother disappeared and the birth of Saoirse.

Anne-Marie sympathized with Ben on losing a parent. "I know how it's like to lose a parent. I lost both a mother and father. You and your sister are so lucky you still have your father." said Anne-Marie, placing a hand on his shoulder and looking directly at his eyes. Ben finally got to his sister and apologized for the bullying he done to her, reminding him how much he wanted to punch his younger self in the face. Ben has managed to reason with Macha when it came to emotions and how important they truly are. Anne-Marie applauded when Ben rehearsed what he told Macha. With all of that said and done, Ben and Saoirse managed to get back home with the help of Cú and Mac Lir's two dogs.

The last of the memories were finally shared. Anne-Marie began to reveal that Carface kidnapped her yet again, only for Charlie to come back and try to save her only to die in the process. Carface also dies because the previously mentioned voodoo alligator comes back and eats him. She didn't really like Carface either, but didn't have much of a reaction towards his death. She was finally adopted and Itchy became her pet dog, possibly her first ever dog. Charlie came to her room to say his final goodbyes to her and Anne-Marie said goodbye to him before a bright, glowing light comes and takes Charlie with it. Saoirse started to cry, she never realized that Charlie actually cared for Anne-Marie and was wrong about him the whole time. Ben had to comfort his sister while Heidi sat there, feeling pain and confusion.

Ben then described about how Saoirse got back her sealskin coat back once and for all and began to sing the song of the sea, freeing all of the fairies, Macha, and Mac Lir, allowing them to return to Tír na nÓg. Their mother arrived to come take Saoirse with her, only for Saoirse to chose to stay with her father and brother. She, the mother said her final goodbyes to her husband and son before leaving with the fairies.

Now with all of that said and done, Ben, Saoirse, and Anne-Marie began to recognize something odd about their memories; they were anything but normal. "Uhh, is it normal for a little girl to have memories about talking dogs and dancing alligators?" Ben asked Anne-Marie with an awkward looking smile on his face. "My memories are weird to you?" Anne-Marie chuckled, "You and your sister had memories of interacting with gods and mythical creatures, and essentially cheated death a couple of times.". Both Anne-Marie and Ben began to make jokes about their memories, but they stopped because Saoirse pointed out that it's already halfway to six o'clock (PM not AM) by looking at a clock. They both said, "Already?" Wow.". Anne-Marie thanked both Ben and Saoirse for coming to visit and hoped they'll come back either tomorrow or some other day.

Saoirse hoped that she could give her a visit too as she and her brother went back to their homes.

As Ben was driving back to his flat, he noticed that Heidi looked really excited, huge grin and all. "Can we visit Anne-Marie again?" she asked, Ben told her that he'll think about it during the ride. When they returned to the flat, Ben sat on the couch and he said, "Heidi, can you come here for a minute?". Heidi followed her father's instructions and went near him. "I thought about your question regarding my sister's neighbor. I mean, why not? She seems to enjoyed our company, maybe we'll give her a visit tomorrow on Saturday.". Heidi squealed with joy and danced around the living room. Ben sighed with an amused look on his face. He couldn't help but to agree with Heidi. He was also fond of that lady, and he sent a text message to his sister to see if she wants to visit Anne-Marie again. No response yet, but maybe in the morning, she will response.


	4. Chapter 4: The Family Reunion

A day before Halloween, and to Ben, that means it's Saoirse's 25th birthday. He felt so proud of his sister despite having his 29th birthday four months prior to hers. Every year, Ben would give his sister shells from a trip to the beach as a birthday gift. It became a tradition by the time Saoirse had her 12th birthday.

With the history lesson out of the way, Ben woke Heidi up for the school day, but promised to take her to the beach for collect some sea shells once the school day's over. Heidi was excited, she was in a hurry to get herself dressed, and brushing her teeth. Ben is very proud of his daughter.

The drive to school was a calm one, Ben played a CD with lyrics that are in Gaelic to help both him and his daughter to brush up on their Gaelic a little. After Ben dropped Heidi off at the school entrance, he drove back home to finish chapter three of a novel he has working on for a week. The novel took tons of inspiration from the books he read in secondary school, almost like satire/a parody of them.

At the first paragraph of chapter four, Ben noticed that it's time to pick up Heidi.

He drove to the school and picked up Heidi to take her to the beach. Heidi squealed and rushed towards the shore and started to grab as many seashells as she could. She essentially turned the seashell collecting occasion into a competitive game. So, who won? Heidi did. She started dancing around on the sand, singing a victory song which apparently have the word "fart" in almost every lyric. Ben tried to hold in a few giggles, but failed absolutely miserably. It was one of the funniest thing he has heard, right behind the dancing alligator story and the time Heidi covered herself in dirt and weeds, announcing to her mother and father that she is the goddess of the weeds. She was at least three at the time.

Funny stories aside, Ben and Heidi put the shells they collected into a bucket, and went back to the car to go to Saoirse's place. The drive was a long, but exciting one. After almost an hour, they reached Saoirse's house, Heidi ran very quickly towards with a bucket full of grainy, sand-covered seashells. The door opened to reveal Anne-Marie, this made Heidi think that she entered the wrong house, only for her to reassure Heidi that this is indeed her aunt's house. Ben was behind hid daughter as she followed Anne-Marie. They were now in the dining room, it seems that Saoirse has invited her father, and much to Ben's surprise, his wife Margo. "Hey Ben, how's Heidi doing without me around?" she asked her husband, and held her crying daughter.

"She's doing just fine. She is still very happy and managed to meet a new friend." Ben explained to Margo, which she was happy about. Heidi then asked her mother about her whereabouts. It turns out that she was taking care of her relatives while she was absent, mainly her terminally ill uncle. With him no longer needing Margo and accepting his fate, she decided to go back home to her family but realized that it's her sister-in-law's birthday, so she decided to come there with a gift for both her husband and Saoirse, which was her return.

The birthday party was quite nice, Saoirse loved all the gifts she earned from her family and neighbor, which were the seashells, a postcard from Louisiana, and a photo of Saoirse and her friend group from the 90s. The grown-ups (mainly Conor, Ben and Saoirse's father and Anne-Marie) had a chat while Heidi played with her _Elmo_ doll and listened to the rather boring conversations. Anne-Marie re-told her childhood memories to Conor and Margo since they haven't heard those stories, they liked the stories but neither of them were laughing like Ben and Saoirse when they first heard them. Margo's opinion on the stories is based on the question she asked at some point in the stories, "Why is everyone such a butthole?". Saoirse agreed with her, as for Conor, the stories were entertaining and relatable to him, but thought that some of the parts sounded like fever dreams, and Anne-Marie agreed with him. "They kinda do," she said with a chuckle, "and honestly, when I told that story to my late husband Robert back in the 50s, he genuinely believed it was a weird, but wonderful story to tell to children, and that was inspiration for my author career.".

A few more stories later, everyone found it was night, and time to get back home, Anne-Marie took the whole walk back to her house, while for Conor and Ben and his family, they had to drive back.

Since Margo already had her car with her, she decided to follow Ben's car back to their flat.

An hour or two later, the family of three returned to their flat with joy. Cú the second hasn't seen Margo for months, so he jumped on her a lot and would "dance" around the living room. Heidi had to go to bed right after the family had dinner, but for Ben and Margo, they decided to have to watch some sitcoms spoken entirely in Gaelic.


End file.
